7QT: Advice for Catechists from Pope Francis

A new school year is upon us, and catechists, teachers, and homeschoolers are making plans and preparations.What would Pope Francis say to us as we are getting ready?  I recently read an address that Pope Francis gave to catechists on September 27, 2013.  His advice is very relevant to all of us, especially because he is reminding us that catechesis is primarily about evangelization.  Pope Francis’ teachings have challenged me to remember that we always need to be reaching out, inviting, and welcoming those around us. 

I’d like to share with you some of the advice he gave to all those who teach the faith.  I also pulled out some of my favorite quotes from the address and turned them into images.  You are welcome to right click and save/print those images to hang up as a reminder for you or to give to your fellow catechists and teachers as the school years starts. 

Here's three main points summarizing what Pope Francis had to say to the catechists of the world:

~1~

Be close to Jesus

We can’t share Jesus with others unless we ourselves know Him and are close to Him (Abide in Him- John 15).  Pope Francis encourages us to spend time in prayer, to be with the Lord, to “ignite the fire of friendship with the Lord.” He reminds us that this prayer looks different for people- we have different callings and vocations.

 ~2~

“Being a catechist is not a title; it is an attitude of abiding with him, and it lasts a lifetime!  It means abiding in the Lord’s presence and letting ourselves be led by him.”

~3~

Imitate Jesus by leaving ourselves behind and going out to encounter others

Pope Francis reminds us that real love is never selfish- God is always at the center and God gives himself away.  When we have life in Christ, we are always open to others.

~4~

“And this is the job of the catechist: constantly to go forth to others out of love to bear witness and to talk about Jesus, to proclaim Jesus.  This is important because the Lord does it; it is the Lord that impels us to go forth.”

~5~

Do not be afraid to go with Jesus to the outskirts

Think of the example of Jonah- he was content with his pious life, and Nineveh was outside of his comfort zone.  But, if we go to the outskirts, we will always find God there.  He is always faithful, and he is always there first in the heart of the person that you will encounter.

~6~

“But really is there such a thing as a catechist who is not creative?  Creativity is what sustains us as catechists.  God is creative; he is not closed, and so he is never inflexible, God is not rigid!  He welcomes us, he meets us, he understands us.”

~7~

And finally, I think my favorite quote from the whole speech was this:

“If a catechist has an easy time of it, he or she will end up in a museum.”

Isn’t that the truth! This isn’t an easy job, and you and I know that.  We are fighting an uphill battle against sin, culture, lifestyles, media, etc.  The mix of kids in our classrooms have needs that we can’t meet.  We may feel inadequate, ill-equipped, and stretched thin.  But that quote summarizes the work of being a catechist- it isn’t going to be easy.  Embracing the cross and fighting for truth never is.  We weren’t promised easy, but we are promised that Christ will be with us.  We can remember that we are doing His work.  We know that we can trust and abide in him and his perfect mercy. 

Thanks to all of you catechists and teachers of all kinds for being ready to do God’s work again this year.

Linking up with Kelly- go visit her for more Quick Takes!

Love Mercy Coloring Pages

In honor of Pope Francis' Year of Mercy, our CCD theme this year will come from Micah 6:8- "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly."  I've been busy creating activities and printables to use once the new school year starts up, and today I've got a couple of coloring pages to share.  You can see the rest of the mercy related activities that are already posted under the Year of Mercy heading in the Sharing the Faith Tab above.

Click on either of the images below for a pdf printable of the coloring pages:

You might like to follow the Year of Mercy board I've started on Pinterest to keep up with the ideas that I find and add!  Click here for a link:

Spiritual Works of Mercy Teaching Tools

The Spiritual Works of Mercy give us direction for how to care for the spiritual needs of people around us.  This great article offers inspiration to see living out these works of mercy beyond the basics.  I've created a few teaching tools to help us teach kids about the Spiritual Works of Mercy, and hope that they spark discussion about how we all (those kids included) can find ways to serve Christ and his people in these seven ways.


Click here for a coloring page of the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy:

Click here for an eight page mini book of the Spiritual Works of Mercy with a simple image and label:
(print two sided, cut horizontally, stack, fold vertically, staple on fold for an 8 page 5.5"x 4.25" mini book)

This version of the mini book has enough room that kids could write a practical way that they can live out these Works of Mercy.  For example on the "forgive offenses willingly" page, kids could list things like "be nice to my brother" and "take turns during recess."  For the "pray for the living and the dead" page, kids could like things like "light a candle at church for my relatives that have passed away" and "say an Our Father for each of my friends."  Thinking outside of the box can help kids see that they too can help fulfill Jesus' call to Christians to care for each other as if they were caring for Him.


Click here for an eight page mini book of the Spiritual Works of Mercy with a simple image, label, and a Scripture verse or two:

 And go back to this post to get the same resources for the Corporal Works of Mercy.

Corporal Works of Mercy Teaching Tools

The Corporal Works of Mercy as outlined by Christ in Matthew 25 give us direction for how to care for the bodily needs of people around us.  This great article offers inspiration to see living out these works of mercy beyond the basics.  I've created a few teaching tools to help us teach kids about the Corporal Works of Mercy, and hope that they spark discussion about how we all (those kids included) can find ways to serve Christ and his people in these seven ways.

Click here for a coloring page of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy:

Click here for an eight page mini book of the Corporal Works of Mercy with a simple image and label:
(print two sided, cut horizontally, stack, fold vertically, staple on fold for an 8 page 5.5"x 4.25" mini book)

This version of the mini book has enough room that kids could write a practical way that they can live out these Works of Mercy.  For example on the "give food to the hungry" page, kids could list things like "help set the table" and "donate to the food pantry."  For the "visit the imprisoned" page, kids could like things like "send cards to someone homebound" and "visit my grandparents."  Thinking outside of the box can help kids see that they too can help fulfill Jesus' call to Christians to care for each other as if they were caring for Him.

Click here for an eight page mini book of the Corporal Works of Mercy with a simple image, label, and the text of Matthew 25:31-46:

 

And check this post for the matching coloring pages and mini books for the Spiritual Works of Mercy!

Seeing Jesus in the Eucharist- Monstrance Art Project

One of my students' favorite art projects of the entire school year is when we make these gold Monstrances.  Beautiful results and powerful message, it is a project that I enjoy teaching every year.

I originally posted about this project and how we added it to our notebooking project here, but I've collected a few more pictures, resources, and instructions over the past couple of years, so I thought I would share some more details on how your classroom could make this cool project.

First, I collect our needed supplies, most importantly (and expensively), the gold paper. You can see that I have a collection of scraps that we reuse for small pieces.  I have found that the cheapest way to provide gold paper for all the students is to buy large pieces of gold poster board and cut them down so that six or eight students can use them. 

I also found gold duct tape this year and bought a couple of rolls.  Each student got a strip about 6" long to use.  This was a great way for the students to cut and stick small details that can be challenging with the poster board.

This year I had the students make a separate pattern on a 6"x6" square of paper.  We talked about symmetry and folded the paper horizontally, vertically, and diagonally to help create a pattern for radial symmetry.

 You can see the beginnings of some of their patterns here:

The students traced these patterns onto the gold paper, and then added more layers, a base, and a stand.

The next step was to create the host.  Conveniently, I have a 1 1/4" punch.  I fold over regular white paper, and punch a circle through both layers with one edge still visible.

 This causes you to have two circles that are still attached like this:

Then using a 1" punch, I cut out these Jesus stickers out in a circle. (I have found these stickers at Dollar Tree and ordered them from Autom.  You also could just print small images and then punch them out.)

 The sticker is placed on the inside of one the circles, creating a white host that opens to reveal Jesus on the inside- reminding us of the gift and truth of the Eucharist.

 And then is glued in the center of the Monstrance:

Liquid glue is a necessity for this project (not glue sticks) and from experience I know that before the glue dries, the gold paper curls and can ruin the project.  The host also very easily sticks shut as the glue dries.  To solve this problem, I tried a new technique this year and it worked like a charm.  When they were finished with their project, each student put a small square of foil in between the layers of the host.  They then put a whole sheet of foil over the project and then laid a textbook over the foil.  The weight helped everything dry flat and the foil peeled off without sticking to the project.

Here is one awesome project from this year:

After the project was dry, each student chose a Fulton Sheen quote about the Eucharist and attached it to the bottom of the art.  Here was our bulletin board this year with the completed projects:

I love how creative these projects always are, and they are such a great way to give the kids a visual of the importance of the Eucharist.  The display in the hallway always attracts the attention of other students- they love flipping up the white host and finding Jesus inside, and like picking out their favorite quotes.

If you would like to make this project yourself, I have a few printable resources here:

Click here for an 8 per page printable of this quote:

Click here for a page of 8 different Sheen quotes on the Eucharist:

Click here for printable instructions for this craft and teaching points, as well as adaptation for younger students:

Update:
We lost our bulletin boards this year, so here is another display option using a classroom door:

Sacrament Mosaics

Looking for an easy review or intro to the Sacraments for a group of kids?  I have used this Sacrament Mosaic activity to start discussion and create decor for my classroom, and then use as anchors as we continue to develop our understanding of the Sacraments while the school year goes on.

First I prep by cutting one inch squares of varying colors of construction paper:

I don't have a pic, but then I cut fourteen circles about 12" in diameter out of lightweight cardboard.

Then we split the class of students into seven groups and randomly assigned them one of the seven Sacraments.  Their task was to create a symbolic representation, both in image and color, of their assigned Sacrament.  They had to work together to create two matching mosaics using the 1" squares on the circles.

The 1" squares don"t lend themselves to a ton of detail, which forces the kids to focus on a simple symbol.  It also makes this a fairly quick group activity.

We added a label of the Sacrament hanging below the mosaic and hung them all from the ceiling in our classroom, where they stayed for the rest of the school year.  The seven examples the kids created are below:

You might also like these Sacrament activities- click on the image to go to posts about those activities.

Sacrament Graffiti Walls:

Sacrament Symbols Notes Graphic Organizer:

Sacraments and Grace Notes Graphic Organizer:

Divine Mercy Melty Beads

I'm getting quite excited about the upcoming Year of Mercy!  Pope Francis' declaration of the Jubilee that begins on December 8th is a great opportunity for all that teach the faith to share the message of God's infinite mercy.  I plan on running with this celebration and am making lots of activities and lessons to help kiddos and adults alike to accept mercy and be merciful in return.

Have you done a craft with melty beads before?  (melty beads- one brand name is Perler Beads.)  We got a big donation of them at church this spring, so I was determined to plan some projects to put them to use.  I had fun creating a pattern for this heart of Divine Mercy craft.  You can find more info on the image of Mercy here. I also explain how I have taught the symbolism behind the colors and image in this post.

 

I've got a pattern for two different sizes.  The big one looks awesome, but is a lot more time consuming and detail oriented.  The little pattern would be better for little kids or little amounts of time. You also could skip the black background that makes up the square and just make the heart and rays for a quicker project.

 They make fun sun catchers, especially if you have some transparent beads for the rays of light:

 And glow in the dark beads look neato:

 

Want to make your own?
Click here for a pdf pattern for the large design (29x29):

Click here for a pdf pattern for the small design (13x13):

Interested in more ideas for kids about the upcoming Year of Mercy?  I'll continue sharing projects as we get closer, and you might also be interested in these older posts:

Divine Mercy Watercolor Art

 

Pop Out Divine Mercy Chaplet

Connection to Divine Mercy and Reconciliation

Image of Divine Mercy and Reconciliation Lapbook